Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, New  York
Private Collection, New York
Sale: Sotheby's, New York, Contemporary Art, 13 November 2002, Lot 331
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

Exhibition Catalogue, New York, Gagosian Gallery, Andy Warhol: Diamond Dust Shoes, 1999, p. 19, illustrated in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the illustration fails to fully convey the glittery surface of the diamond dust apparent in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. There are hairline intermittent tensions cracks along the turnover edges and very minor wear to the extreme corner tips. There is a very light and unobtrusive handling mark in the blue pigment at the centre of the left turnover edge. There is a very light media accretion towards the lower left corner. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultra-violet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The present work is an exquisitely executed and captivating example from Andy Warhol’s Diamond Dust Shoes series.  Exuding elegance, it marks a return to a subject which had preoccupied Warhol since the very beginning of his career.

It was his drawings of shoes for commercial publications in 1950s New York that offered the young Warhol his first taste of critical and monetary success. By 1955, he was designing witty and innovative adverts on a regular basis for the I Miller shoe company, and was referred to as ‘the Leonardo da Vinci of the shoe trade’ by Women’s Wear Daily (David Bourdon, Warhol, New York, 1989, p. 42). The artist’s early, almost fetishist veneration of female footwear stemmed perhaps from an association of shoes with a glamorous, moneyed lifestyle, one far removed from the style in which he had been raised and which he was determined to achieve through his own efforts. Warhol’s repeated depictions of shoes throughout this first part of his career not only effectively launched his creative efforts in the public consciousness, but also enabled him to gain an opening into the world of creative decadence and glamour which he came to epitomise over the next three decades. 

By the time he came to return to this seminal subject in the early 1980s, Warhol’s discovery of the silkscreen technique, a means by which a photograph could be transferred directly onto a screen, had revolutionised his creative style; Bourdon declared that ‘it was his innovative use of the silkscreen technique on canvas, combined with his startling adaptation of commonplace imagery, that secured his position as one of the most important artists of his time.’ (Ibid. p. 123).The use of diamond dust, which adorns the current lot in sparkling profusion, was an even more recent innovation, first introduced to Warhol by Rupert Smith around 1979. Warhol had always adored the glitter of diamonds, and relished the opportunity to directly incorporate the crystals directly into his works. The glorious decadence conveyed by the inclusion of crushed diamond dust imbues Diamond Dust Shoes with a particular frisson of glamour, seeming to glimmer with myriad points of dazzling light when viewed from different angles. The extraordinary dynamism of the composition results from Warhol’s painstaking placing of each individual shoe to create a sense of organised chaos, with the artist carefully photographing the finished group himself. The result is a joyous amalgamation of colour, form and texture, the combination of high heels and diamond dust seeming to encapsulate the giddy, glamorous whirlwind of Warhol’s remarkable life and times.